Systems and methods for controlling access to media assets using two-factor authentication

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for authorizing operations associated with blocked media assets using two-factor authentication. In some aspects, a media guidance application (e.g., executed by a set-top box or other user equipment used to store and display media assets) prompts a user for a password (e.g., a personal information number) in order to unlock the content for viewing. In response to receiving a second request from the user to perform an operation related to the media asset (e.g., delete), the media guidance application prompts the user for an additional factor confirming his or her identity, consistent with two-factor authentication protocol. If the user&#39;s identity is authenticated as a user that has authority to perform the operation related to the media asset (e.g., delete the stored media asset), the media guidance application performs the operation related to the media asset (e.g., deletes the media asset).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371of International Application PCT/US2016/061756, filed Nov. 14, 2016,which claims priority to and the benefit of United States ProvisionalApplication No. 62/412,144 filed Oct. 24, 2016, the disclosures of whichare hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Given the plethora of content available to modem television viewers,parental control systems have become near ubiquitous in electronicprogram guides (EPGs), which allow users to filter content for viewing.For example, parental control systems give parents the ability to decidewhat their children can watch when they are not around. Typically, aparental control system will have an access code that can be input toblock and unblock content. A child attempting to access a blockedprogram and unaware of the access code will not be able to view theprogram. However, with this binary approach (access / no access based ona single code), multiple users in a household may have access to a mediaasset and may perform actions (e.g., deleting the media asset) that theother users do not want performed as there is no way to differentiatethe identity of the user performing the action.

Some conventional systems attempt to solve this problem by using auser-profile system where users enter different codes to identify whichspecific user he or she is. However, this approach, using user-specificcodes, while stronger than a single code to block and unblock mediaassets, still has the same problem in terms of validating user identity.For example, if a parent gives a child his or her code in order for thechild to access a blocked media asset once, the child could conceivablyremember the code and perform any of the actions the parent could at anytime, defeating the purpose of having user-specific codes.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, systems and methods are described herein for authorizingoperations associated with blocked media assets using two-factorauthentication. For example, a media guidance application (e.g.,executed by a set-top box or other user equipment used to store anddisplay media assets) prompts a user for a password (e.g., a personalidentification number (“PIN”)) in order to unlock content for viewing.In response to receiving a second request from the user to perform anoperation related to the media asset (e.g., delete), the media guidanceapplication prompts the user for an additional factor confirming his orher identity, consistent with the two-factor authentication protocoldescribed herein. If the user's identity is authenticated as a user thathas authority to perform the operation related to the media asset deletethe stored media asset), the media guidance application performs theoperation related to the media asset (e.g., deletes the media asset).

In some aspects, the media guidance application receives a first requestto access a media asset for viewing on user equipment, wherein access tothe media asset is blocked. For example, the media guidance applicationmay store a plurality of media assets in storage, either local to theuser device that generates media assets for display in memory of aset-top box) or remotely at a server. The media guidance application maygenerate a listing of media assets (e.g., in a user interface) fromwhich the user can select a media asset to be generated for display. Themedia guidance application may set a flag, based on metadata associatedwith each stored media asset, indicating whether each media asset shouldbe blocked for a given user. As a specific example, the media guidanceapplication may set the flag based on metadata associated with the mediaasset indicating that it fulfills a predefined blocking criterion (e.g.,that a particular user cannot watch shows with a rating greater thanTV-PG).

The media guidance application then receives a first input of a firstauthorization code. The first authorization code may be any combinationof alphanumeric characters that can be matched to a stored string ofalphanumeric characters. The media guidance application may receive thefirst identifier via user input using a user input interface, such as atouchscreen or remote control. For example, the media guidanceapplication may receive the user input, “1578,” via a remote control.

The media guidance application determines that the received firstauthorization code matches a stored first identifier granting access toview the media asset. For example, the media guidance applicationdetermines whether the received input, “1578,” matches a value stored inmemory for the first identifier. As a specific example, the mediaguidance application may access a parental control database whichcontains a plurality of identifiers associated with permissions (i.e.,whether each code can access the media asset). The media guidanceapplication may compare the received first authorization code with thestored identifiers to determine a match (e.g., by comparing thecharacters of the first authorization code with characters of each ofthe stored identifiers). After determining a match, the media guidanceapplication retrieves data from a field in the database corresponding tothe matched identifier and determines whether the data indicates a userhas access to the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application retrieves, from afield in the parental control database including a plurality of entrieswith stored identifiers associated with users, the first storedidentifier. For example, the media guidance application may execute anSQL program script utilizing the declarative “Select” statement toretrieve the value of the first stored identifier from a field in thedatabase, such as “12345.” The media guidance application may determinewhether the first stored identifier matches the received authorizationcode by comparing characters of the first stored identifier withcharacters of the received authorization code. For example, the mediaguidance application may compare each indexed character of a receivedstring (i.e., the first authorization code) with each indexed characterof the stored identifier to determine whether the two strings match. Themedia guidance application may determine a match if the number orpercentage of matched characters exceeds a threshold. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that “1234567891” matches“1224567891,” if a 90% match exceeds a threshold percentage (e.g., 75%).

In response to determining that the first stored identifier matches thereceived authorization code, the media guidance application retrieves avalue from a field associated with the first stored identifier. Forexample, the media guidance application may retrieve a blockingcriterion from a field associated with the first stored identifier(e.g., that the user identified by the first stored identifier cannotaccess media assets with a rating greater than TV-PG). The mediaguidance application then determines whether the user identified by thefirst stored identifier has access to the media asset based on thevalue. For example, the media guidance application may compare ablocking criterion retrieved from the field associated with the firststored identifier with metadata associated with the media asset todetermine whether the user identified by the first stored identifier haspermission to access the media asset. As a specific example, if theblocking criterion is the rating “TV-PG” and the media asset has arating of “TV-MA,” then the media guidance application may determinethat the user does not have permission to access the media asset sincethe rating of the media asset exceeds the blocking criterion rating.

After determining that the received first authorization code matches thestored first identifier, the media guidance application generates themedia asset for display. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate for display the media asset on a display connected to the userequipment. Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance applicationmay query the parental control database for an indication whether theuser identified by the first authorization code can view the media asseton a device not coupled to the user equipment (e.g., streamed to amobile device, such as a cellular telephone)

In some embodiments, the media guidance application generates aninstruction to allow access to view the media asset for a predeterminedperiod of time. For example, after the media guidance applicationdetermines the user identified by the first authorization code hasaccess to the media asset, the media guidance application may generatean instruction (e.g., in a program script) to allow access to the mediaasset for a period of time. The media guidance application may thenexecute the instruction, wherein the instruction stores a temporaryindication, in a field associated with the first stored identifier inthe parental control database, to allow access to view the media asset.For example, the media guidance application may execute the programscript that was generated, which then stores an indication (e.g., aboolean value set to “true”) in the parental control database that theuser has access to the media asset. The media guidance application then,in response to executing the instruction, monitors an elapsed time. Forexample, the program script may store an end time in the parentalcontrol database when access to the media asset expires and the mediaguidance application may execute another program script to remove theindication when the time reaches the value in the end time.Alternatively, the media guidance application may continue running theprogram script, which monitors the clock time and removes the indicationafter the predetermined period of time. The media guidance application,in response to determining the elapsed time exceeds the predeterminedperiod of time, deletes the temporary indication to allow access to viewthe media asset. For example, the media guidance application may resetthe contents of the field where the indication was stored.

The media guidance application then receives a second request to executean operation associated with the media asset. The operation may be anycommand or instruction that when executed alters or copies the storedaudiovisual data for the media asset or any stored metadata relating tothe media asset. For example, the media guidance application may receivea request via a user input interface (e.g., a touch screen) to deletethe media asset. As another example, the media guidance application mayreceive a request via a user input interface to copy the media asset toanother device. As yet another example, the media guidance applicationmay receive a request to update a user profile (e.g., with the viewingprogress or an indication that a user dislikes the media asset)associated with the first authorization code.

Based on receiving the second request, the media guidance applicationqueries a parental control database for information relating topermissible operations associated with the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may, in a field of the parental controldatabase for the identifier that matches the first authorization code,store a pointer to an array which lists media assets for which a user isgranted to perform the operation. The parental control database maycontain multiple fields, each with a pointer to an array indicatingmedia assets for which a particular operation can be performed without asecond authorization code (e.g., delete, modify, etc.). Alternatively oradditionally, the media guidance application may store an indication ofwhich operations require a second authorization code (e.g., they are notpermissible with only the first authorization code) with metadata storedwith the media asset. For example, the media guidance application maystore the runtime, rating, original airdate, and other metadata as aheader in the stored audiovisual data for the media asset, and mayadditionally contain indications of which operations require a secondauthorization code (e.g., a boolean value set based on whether aparticular operation requires a second authorization code to beperformed).

The media guidance application determines, from the information, that asecond authorization code is required to execute the operationassociated with the media asset, wherein the second authorization codeis generated periodically as a function of time by a token mechanismremote from the user equipment. For example, based on retrieving theinformation from the parental control database, as described above forthe stored media asset, the media guidance application determineswhether a second factor is needed in order to execute the function. Thesecond authorization code may be generated by a token mechanism (e.g., astandalone token or an application executed on a device, such as acellular telephone) which can then be input (e.g., via a user inputinterface) to the media guidance application. The token may generate theauthorization code based on a mathematical function of clock time,analogous to public-key authentication. In some embodiments, othersuitable two-factor methods, such as asymmetric (private-public key)authentication may be used for the second authentication code.

The media guidance application receives a second input of the secondauthorization code generated at a first time. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive, via a user input interface, the secondauthorization code, such as “45678.” The media guidance application maydetermine that the input was received at 10:23:30(hours:minutes:seconds) on 05:31:16 (month:day:year) based on the clocktime when the input was received. Alternatively or additionally, themedia guidance application may receive a clock time with the inputtedsecond authorization code based on the clock time of the device wherethe code was generated.

The media guidance application may then transmit, to an authorizationdatabase, the second authorization code generated at the first time. Forexample, the media guidance application may transmit the secondauthorization code to a database, which may be located remotely from theuser equipment (e.g., on a server) and accessible via a communicationsnetwork, or stored in memory at the user equipment. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may preprocess the second authorizationcode. For example, the media guidance application may generate a datapacket containing the second authorization code and the time at which itwas generated, as described above. In another example, the mediaguidance application may concatenate the time to the nearest second orminute before transmission, depending on how often new authorizationcodes are generated by the token mechanism.

The media guidance application, in response to transmitting, to theauthorization database, the second authorization code generated at thefirst time, receives an indication granting authorization to execute theoperation associated with the media asset based on the transmittedsecond authorization code matching a second identifier generated at thefirst time. For example, the media guidance application may receive adata packet from the authorization package with a boolean value set to“true” if the transmitted authorization code corresponds to a secondidentifier or “false” if it does not. The second identifier may be asecond token mechanism with the same mathematical function of time whichmay compare the output at a particular time (e.g., the secondidentifier) with the received second authorization code. The token maybe identified by the first authorization code, which allows theauthorization database to determine whether the received secondauthorization code is correct. For example, the media guidanceapplication may transmit that the user identified by first authorizationcode “1234” entered second authorization code “45678” to theauthorization database. Instead of searching every token mechanismstored at the authorization database, the authorization database needonly search for a token corresponding to user “1234” and determinewhether “45678” was generated by that token mechanism at the particulartime.

The media guidance application, based on receiving the indication thatthe second authorization code matches the stored second identifier,executes the operation related to the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may execute an instruction to clear or freethe blocks of memory where a particular media asset is stored (e.g.,delete the media asset).

In some embodiments, the operation comprises the media guidanceapplication accessing blocks of memory containing data corresponding tothe media asset. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine the particular blocks of memory where audiovisual data of themedia asset is stored. The media guidance application may then copy thedata contained in the blocks of memory corresponding to the media assetto a second user equipment. For example, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve the stored audiovisual data and transmit it to anotherdevice, such as a mobile phone, such that the user can access the mediaasset remote from the user equipment.

In some embodiments, in response to copying the data, the media guidanceapplication stores, in a field associated with the media asset in theparental control database, an indication that the media asset has beencopied to the second user equipment. For example, the media guidanceapplication may store, in an array of media assets copied to other userequipment pointed to in a field of the parental control database, anindication that the media asset has been copied (e.g., by adding anidentifier of the media asset to the array). The media guidanceapplication receives a third request to access the media asset on thefirst user equipment. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive a request to access the media asset on the user equipment thatoriginally scheduled it for storage via a user input interface. Themedia guidance application then prevents access to the media asset onthe first user equipment while the media asset is stored on the seconduser equipment. For example, the media guidance application may querythe array and determine that, since the identifier of the media asset isin the array, that access is not permitted from the first userequipment. In this way, the media guidance application ensures that themedia asset cannot be stored and viewed on multiple devices at the sametime, by maintaining a “checked-out” mechanism.

In other embodiments, the operation comprises the media guidanceapplication accessing a viewing progress data structure containingcurrently stored media assets. For example, the media guidanceapplication may access the viewing progress data structure locally instorage or remotely at a server via a communications network. Theviewing progress data structure may be organized such that each mediaasset has an associated viewing progress, which may be expressed in timeor percentage viewed. The media guidance application then stores, in afield for the media asset, an indication that the media asset has beenviewed to completion. For example, the media guidance application mayupdate the field of the viewing progress data structure to reflect thecurrent user's viewing progress of the media asset. As a specificexample, the user may have completed the media asset and thus the mediaguidance application may set a “viewed to completion” flag to “true.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, in response toreceiving an indication not granting authorization to execute theoperation associated with the media asset based on the transmittedsecond authorization code not matching the second identifier generatedat the first time, queries the parental control database to determinewhether there is an alternate second authorization code to allow theoperation. For example, the media guidance application may receive adata packet from the authorization package with a boolean value set to“false” if the transmitted authorization code does not correspond to asecond identifier. The media guidance application then accesses theparental control database and determines whether any other second-factorauthorization sources are associated with the first stored identifier.For example, the media guidance application may determine that the usercan also be identified via a biometric signature (e.g., an iris scan orfacial recognition) as the second authorization code. In response todetermining that there is an alternate second authorization code toallow the operation, the media guidance application generates fordisplay an indication to input the alternate second authorization code.For example, the media guidance application may generate for display aprompt to use a camera (e.g., integrated into a cellular telephone) toinput a biometric signature as the second authorization code.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may prompt for thealternate second authorization code (e.g., from another source) onlyafter a threshold number of failed matches to a second identifier forthe original second authorization code. For example, if the mediaguidance application receives, from the authorization database, anindication that three consecutive transmitted second authorization codesfailed to match the second stored identifier, the media guidanceapplication may determine to prompt for the alternate secondauthorization code.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application receives a userinput to schedule the media asset for storage. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive a user input via a user input interface(e.g., a remote control) to schedule a media asset for storage. As aspecific example, the user may select a particular media asset listingin a grid-guide generated by the media guidance application, whichresults in the media asset being added to a scheduling database. Themedia guidance application, in response to receiving the user input,generates for display a user interface with a plurality of selectableoptions for restricting access to a corresponding plurality ofoperations. For example, the media guidance application may generate auser interface with buttons to require two-factor authentication foroperations that can be performed (e.g., delete) with respect to themedia asset. The media guidance application receives a selection of aselectable option for restricting access to a corresponding operation.For example, the media guidance application may receive a user selectionvia a user input interface to restrict access (e.g., require two-factorauthentication) for a particular operation (e.g., delete). The mediaguidance application, in response to receiving the selection, stores inthe parental control database, information that the operation requiresthe second authorization code. For example, the media guidanceapplication may add an identifier of the media asset to an array apointer in the parental control database points to for the operation, asdescribed above. Alternatively or additionally, the media guidanceapplication may store the indication with metadata of the stored mediaasset, as described above.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application accesses a userdatabase including identifiers of users who have accessed the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application may maintain adatabase or other appropriate data structure and store an identifier ofa user in a field associated with an identifier of the media asset aftera user accesses the media asset. As a specific example, the useridentifier may be the first authorization code, such as “1111.” Themedia guidance application then retrieves, from the field in the userdatabase associated with the identifier, contact information for adevice associated with a user who has accessed the media asset. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the useridentified by authorization code “1111” has previously viewed the samemedia asset that the user identified by first authorization code “1234”has indicated they would like to perform an operation on and retrievescontact information (e.g., a cellular phone number or email address) ofthe user identified by authorization code “1111.” As a specific example,the media guidance application may retrieve the mobile phone number“123-456-7890” from a field in the user database corresponding to theuser identified by authorization code “1111.” The media guidanceapplication then transmits, to the device based on the contactinformation, a notification to the user that the operation associatedwith the media asset has been received. For example, the media guidanceapplication may transmit a message to the mobile phone based on theretrieved phone number. The transmitted message may include details ofthe operation and/or the user that is trying to perform the operation.For example, the media guidance application may transmit the message,“User ‘Steve’ is trying to delete ‘Game of Thrones, Season 6, episode5’.”

In addition to transmitting the notification to the user that theoperation associated with the media asset has been received, in someembodiments, the media guidance application receives, from the device,an indication to prevent the operation. For example, the media guidanceapplication may receive from the device to which the message wastransmitted an indication to block the operation. As a specific example,if the notification was transmitted to a mobile phone of a user, themessage may include text instructing the user to reply to the message ifthey wish to block the operation. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may determine whether the user has authority toblock the operation based on an indication stored in the user databaseassociated with the user and will only include the text instructing theuser to reply to the message if they have authority to block theoperation. The media guidance application then stores the indication ina second field of the parental control database associated with themedia asset, wherein the indication prevents the operation from beingexecuted. For example, the media guidance application may remove themedia asset from the array of media assets the user has authority todelete (e.g., pointed to by a field in the parental control database)based on the received indication to block the operation. Alternativelyor additionally, the media guidance application may add the media assetto an array in the parental control database for media assets where theuser has been blocked by another user from performing operations.

Alternatively, the media guidance application may determine that therequired second authorization code is a biometric signature of the user.For example, the media guidance application may perform the same stepsoutlined above, but instead of receiving a code generated by a tokenmechanism, the media guidance application receives a biometricsignature. As a specific example, the biometric signature may be an irisscan, fingerprint scan, or facial map of a user transmitted to the mediaguidance application as an image. The media guidance application mayanalyze the biometric signature (e.g., by analyzing criticalpoints/patterns in a pixel map of the received image) and compare tostored biometric signatures, or may transmit the biometric signature toa remote server which analyzes the biometric signature and determineswhether it matches a second stored identifier, similar to as isdescribed above for the authorization database and the token mechanism.

It should be noted the systems and/or methods described above may beapplied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/orapparatuses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a two-factor authenticationapproach to perform an operation related to a media asset, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative example of a database structure for storingparental control information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative display of a user interface for requiringtwo-factor authentication for operations associated with a media asset,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative display of a user interface for blocking anoperation associated with a media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance display fornavigating and selecting media assets in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows another illustrative example of a media guidance displayfor navigating and selecting media assets in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for authorizing operationsassociated with blocked media assets using two-factor authentication, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining whether areceived authorization code permits access to a media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining whether arequested operation requires a second authorization code, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for performing an operationrelating to a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure; and

FIG. 13 is another flowchart of illustrative steps for authorizingoperations associated with blocked media assets using two-factorauthentication, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for authorizing operationsassociated with blocked media assets using two-factor authentication.For example, a media guidance application (e.g., executed by a set-topbox or other user equipment used to store and display media assets)prompts a user for a password (e.g., a PIN) in order to unlock thecontent for viewing. In response to receiving a second request from theuser to perform an operation related to the media asset (e.g., delete),the media guidance application prompts the user for an additional factorconfirming his or her identity, consistent with two-factorauthentication protocol. If the user's identity is authenticated as auser that has authority to perform the operation related to the mediaasset (e.g., delete the stored media asset), the media guidanceapplication performs the operation related to the media asset (e.g.,deletes the media asset).

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a two-factor authenticationapproach to perform an operation related to a media asset, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, display 102 may becoupled to user equipment 104 which executes a media guidanceapplication in order to display media asset 106. After receiving arequest to perform an operation associated with media asset 106, themedia guidance application may generate for display prompt 110 for inputof an authorization code to perform the operation. Display 102 mayappear on one or more user devices (e.g., any of the devices listed inFIGS. 7-8 below). Moreover, the media guidance application may use oneor more of the processes described in FIGS. 9-13 to generate display 102or any of the features described therein.

The media guidance application (e.g., executed on user equipment 104)receives a first request to access a media asset for viewing on userequipment, wherein access to the media asset is blocked. For example,the media guidance application may store a plurality of media assets instorage either local to the user device that generates media assets fordisplay (e.g., in memory of user equipment 104) or remotely at a server.The media guidance application may generate a listing of media assets(e.g., in a user interface displayed on display 102) which the user canselect for display. The media guidance application may set a flag, basedon metadata associated with each stored media asset, indicating whethereach media asset should be blocked for a given user. As a specificexample, the media guidance application may set the flag based onmetadata associated with the media asset (e.g., media asset 106)indicating that it fulfills a predefined blocking criterion (e.g., thata particular user cannot watch shows with a rating greater than TV-PGand media asset 106 has a content rating of TV-MA, which is greater thanTV-PG).

The media guidance application then receives a first input of a firstauthorization code. The first authorization code may be any combinationof alphanumeric characters that can be matched to a stored string ofalphanumeric characters. The media guidance application may receive thefirst identifier via user input using a user input interface, such asremote control 108. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive the user input, “1578,” via remote control 108.

The media guidance application determines that the received firstauthorization code matches a stored first identifier granting access toview the media asset. For example, the media guidance applicationdetermines whether the received input, “1578,” matches a value stored inmemory for the first identifier, as described further below with respectto FIG. 2. As a specific example, the media guidance application mayaccess a parental control database which contains a plurality ofidentifiers associated with permissions (i.e., whether each code canaccess the media asset). The media guidance application may compare thereceived first authorization code with the stored identifiers todetermine a match (e.g., by comparing the characters of the firstauthorization code with characters of each of the stored identifiers).After determining a match, the media guidance application retrieves datafrom a field in the database corresponding to the matched identifier anddetermines whether the data indicates a user has access to the mediaasset.

After determining that the received first authorization code matches thestored first identifier, the media guidance application generates themedia asset for display. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate for display the media asset (e.g., media asset 106) on adisplay (e.g., display 102) connected to the user equipment (e.g., userequipment 104). Alternatively or additionally, the media guidanceapplication may query the parental control database for an indicationwhether the user identified by the first authorization code can view themedia asset on a device not coupled to the user equipment (e.g.,streamed to a mobile device, such as cellular telephone 112). Asdescribed further below with respect to FIG. 2, the media guidanceapplication may store a temporary indication granting access to themedia asset (e.g., in the parental control database).

The media guidance application then receives a second request to executean operation associated with the media asset. The operation may be anycommand or instruction that when executed alters or copies the storedaudiovisual data for the media asset or any stored metadata relating tothe media asset. For example, the media guidance application may receivea request via a user input interface (e.g., a touch screen on cellulartelephone 112 or remote 108) to delete the media asset (e.g., mediaasset 106) from storage. As another example, the media guidanceapplication may receive a request via a user input interface to copy themedia asset to another device. As yet another example, the mediaguidance application may receive a request to update a user profile(e.g., with the viewing progress or an indication that a user dislikesthe media asset) associated with the first authorization code.

Based on receiving the second request, the media guidance applicationqueries a parental control database for information relating topermissible operations associated with the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may, in a field of the parental controldatabase for the identifier that matches the first authorization code,store a pointer to an array which lists media assets a user is grantedto perform the operation on. The parental control database may containmultiple fields, each with a pointer to an array indicating media assetswhere a particular operation can be performed without a secondauthorization code (e.g., delete, modify, etc.). Alternatively oradditionally, the media guidance application may store an indication ofwhich operations require a second authorization code (e.g., they are notpermissible with only the first authorization code) with metadata storedwith the media asset (e.g., media asset 106). For example, the mediaguidance application may store the runtime, rating, original airdate andother metadata as a header in the stored audiovisual data for the mediaasset (e.g., media asset 106), and may additionally contain indicationsof which operations require a second authorization code.

The media guidance application then determines, from the information,that a second authorization code is required to execute the operationassociated with the media asset, wherein the second authorization codeis generated periodically as a function of time by a token mechanismremote from the user equipment. For example, based on retrieving theinformation from the parental control database as described above forthe stored media asset (e.g., media asset 106), the media guidanceapplication determines whether a second factor is needed in order toexecute the function. The second authorization code may be generated bya token (e.g., a standalone token or an application executed on adevice, such as on cellular telephone 112) which can then be input(e.g., via a user input interface) to the media guidance application.The token may generate the authorization code based on a mathematicalfunction of clock time, analogous to public-key authentication. In someembodiments, other two-factor authentication methods, such as asymmetric(private-public key) authentication may be used for the secondauthentication code.

The media guidance application receives a second input of the secondauthorization code generated at a first time. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive, via a user input interface, the secondauthorization code, such as “45678” (e.g., input to user equipment 104using a user input interface). The media guidance application maydetermine that the input was received at 10:23:30(hours:minutes:seconds) on 05:31:16 (month:day:year), based on the clocktime when the input was received. Alternatively or additionally, themedia guidance application may receive a clock time with the inputtedsecond authorization code based on the clock time of the device (e.g.,cellular telephone 112) where the code was generated.

The media guidance application may then transmit, to an authorizationdatabase, the second authorization code generated at the first time. Forexample, the media guidance application may transmit the secondauthorization code to a database, which may be located remotely from theuser equipment (e.g., on a server) and accessible via a communicationsnetwork, or stored in memory at the user equipment (e.g., user equipment104). In some embodiments, the media guidance application may preprocessthe second authorization code. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a data packet containing the secondauthorization code and the time at which it was generated, as describedabove. In another example, the media guidance application mayconcatenate the time to the nearest second or minute beforetransmission, depending on how often new authorization codes aregenerated by the token mechanism.

The media guidance application, in response to transmitting, to theauthorization database, the second authorization code generated at thefirst time, receives an indication granting authorization to execute theoperation associated with the media asset based on the transmittedsecond authorization code matching a second identifier generated at thefirst time. For example, the media guidance application may receive adata packet from the authorization package with a boolean value set to“true” if the transmitted authorization code corresponds to a secondidentifier or “false” if it does not. The second identifier may be asecond token mechanism with the same mathematical function of time whichmay compare the output at a particular time (e.g., the secondidentifiers with the received second authorization code. The token maybe additionally identified by the first authorization code, which wouldallow the authorization database to more efficiently determine whetherthe received second authorization code is correct. For example, themedia guidance application may transmit that the user identified byfirst authorization code “1234” entered second authorization code“45678” to the authorization database. Instead of searching every tokenmechanism stored at the authorization database, the authorizationdatabase need only search for a token corresponding to user “1234” anddetermine whether “45678” was generated by that token at the particulartime.

The media guidance application, based on receiving the indication thatthe second authorization code matches the stored second identifier,executes the operation related to the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may execute an instruction to clear or freethe blocks of memory where a particular media asset is stored (e.g.,delete media asset 106 from storage).

In some embodiments, the operation may comprise the media guidanceapplication accessing blocks of memory containing data corresponding tothe media asset. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine the particular segments of memory where audiovisual data ofthe media asset (e.g., media asset 106) is stored (e.g., locally instorage of user equipment 104 or remotely at a server). The mediaguidance application may then copy the data contained in the blocks ofmemory corresponding to the media asset to a second user equipment. Forexample, the media guidance application may retrieve the storedaudiovisual data and transmit it to another device, such as a mobilephone (e.g., cellular telephone 112), such that the user can access themedia asset remote from the user equipment (e.g., user equipment 104).

In some embodiments, in response to copying the data, the media guidanceapplication stores, in a field associated with the media asset in theparental control database, an indication that the media asset has beencopied to the second user equipment. For example, the media guidanceapplication may store, in an array of media assets copied to other userequipment pointed to in a field of the parental control database (e.g.,as described below with respect to FIG. 2), an indication that the mediaasset has been copied (e.g., by adding an identifier of media asset 106to the array). The media guidance application receives a third requestto access the media asset on the first user equipment. For example, themedia guidance application may receive a request to access the mediaasset (e.g., media asset 106) on the user equipment (e.g., userequipment 104) that originally scheduled it for storage via a user inputinterface. The media guidance application then prevents access to themedia asset (e.g., media asset 106) on the first user equipment (e.g.,user equipment 104) while the media asset is stored on the second userequipment (e.g., on cellular telephone 112). For example, the mediaguidance application may query the array and determine that, since theidentifier of the media asset is stored in the array, that access is notpermitted from the first user equipment. In this way, the media guidanceapplication ensures that the media asset cannot be stored and viewed onmultiple devices at the same time, by maintaining a “checked-out”mechanism.

In other embodiments, the operation comprises the media guidanceapplication accessing a viewing progress data structure containingcurrently stored media assets. For example, the media guidanceapplication may access the viewing progress data structure locally instorage (e.g., of user equipment 104) or remotely at a server via acommunications network. The viewing progress data stricture may beorganized such that each media asset has an associated viewing progress,which may be expressed in time or percentage viewed. The media guidanceapplication then stores, in a field for the media asset, an indicationthat the media asset has been viewed to completion. For example, themedia guidance application may update the field of the viewing progressdata structure to reflect the current user's viewing progress of themedia asset (e.g., media asset 106). As a specific example, the user mayhave completed the media asset and thus the media guidance applicationmay set a “viewed to completion” flag to “true.”

Alternatively, the media guidance application may determine that therequired second authorization code is a biometric signature of the user.For example, the media guidance application may perform the same stepsoutlined above, but instead of receiving a code generated by a tokenmechanism (e.g., by an application on cellular telephone 112), the mediaguidance application receives a biometric signature. As a specificexample, the biometric signature may be an iris scan, fingerprint scan,or facial map of a user transmitted to the media guidance application asan image (e.g., taken by an integrated camera on user equipment 104 orcellular telephone 112). The media guidance application may analyze thebiometric signature (e.g., by analyzing critical points/patterns in apixel map of the received image) and compare to stored biometricsignatures, or may transmit the biometric signature to a remote serverwhich analyzes the biometric signature and determines whether it matchesa second stored identifier, similar to as is described above withrespect to the authorization database and the token mechanism.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative example of a database structure for storingparental control information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. For example, parental control database 200 and storedmetadata 250 may be stored either locally in storage (e.g., on any ofthe devices listed in FIGS. 7-8 below) remotely at a server accessiblevia a communications network. Moreover, the media guidance applicationmay use one or more of the processes described in FIGS. 9-13 to generateparental control database 200 and stored metadata 250, or any of thefeatures described therein.

Parental control database 200 may be organized as a table, with aplurality of identifiers (e.g., identifier 202) each with associatedstored data. In some embodiments, the stored identifier may be the firstauthorization code (e.g., it is both an identifier of the user and anauthorization code). In other embodiments, each identifier may have anassociated user name (e.g., additional fields 210 contains a storedstring for the user name such as “Dad”) and/or a different associatedauthorization code.

For each identifier, the parental control database contains blockingcriteria (e.g., blocking criterion 204), as well as an indication of atype of second factor that can be used for two-factor authentication ofthe particular identifier (e.g., second factor 206), as well as anyalternative second factor (e.g., alternate second factor 208). Theblocking criteria field may be a single field for each blocking criteria(e.g., more are stored in additional fields 210) or it may contain apointer to an array containing all blocking criteria associated with theuser (e.g., including blocking criterion 204). Second factor 206 andalternate second factor 208 are standard strings that, when retrieved bythe media guidance application, instruct the media guidance applicationwhat program script to run. For example, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve the string “token” from the parental control database anddetermine that in order to authenticate a particular identifier (e.g.,corresponding to a user), a script to prompt the user for a secondauthorization code generated by a token mechanism needs to be executed.

Additional fields 210 may contain separate fields for each operationthat can be performed with respect to media assets. Specifically, themedia guidance application may store a pointer to an array for mediaassets a user is authorized (or not authorized) to perform a particularoperation on. As an example, identifier “1234” (e.g., identifier 202)may be authorized to delete media assets “Game of Thrones” and“Westworld” since identifiers of those media assets are stored in thearray pointed to from the parental control database for deleteoperations. Based on the identifiers in the arrays, the media guidanceapplication may determine whether a second factor is needed to perform arequested operation (e.g., as described above with respect to FIG. 1)and then determine what second-factor (e.g., second factor 206) can beused to authenticate the user to allow them to perform the operation (ifany).

Stored metadata 250 may contain metadata relating to the stored mediaasset and may be stored in memory with the data for the media asset(e.g., as a header in an audiovisual file containing data for the mediaasset). Stored metadata may contain total runtime 252, rating 254, aswell as indications about which operations require a second factor toperform. For example, the media guidance application may store a booleanset to “true” if two-factor authentication is required (e.g., secondfactor to delete 256) or “false” if two-factor authentication is notrequired (e.g., second factor to copy 258 and second factor to updateviewing progress 260). In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may store specific users for which two-factor authenticationis required to perform the operation (e.g., in additional fields 262).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application retrieves, from afield in the parental control database (e.g., parental control database200) including a plurality of entries with stored identifiers (e.g.,identifier 202) associated with users, the first stored identifier. Forexample, the media guidance application may execute an SQL programscript utilizing the declarative “Select” statement to retrieve thevalue of the first stored identifier from a field in the database, suchas “1234.” The media guidance application may determine whether thefirst stored identifier (e.g. identifier 202) matches the receivedauthorization code by comparing characters of the first storedidentifier with characters of the received authorization code. Forexample, the media guidance application may compare each indexedcharacter of a received string (i.e., the first authorization code) witheach indexed character of the stored identifier to determine whether thetwo strings match. The media guidance application may determine a matchif the number or percentage of matched characters exceeds a threshold.For example, the media guidance application may determine that“1234567891” matches “1224567891,” if a 90% match exceeds a thresholdpercentage (e.g., 75%).

In response to determining that the first stored identifier matches thereceived authorization code, the media guidance application thenretrieves a value from a field associated with the first storedidentifier. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve ablocking criterion (e.g., blocking criterion 204) from a fieldassociated with the first stored identifier (e.g., that the useridentified by the first stored identifier cannot access media assetswith a rating greater than TV-PG). The media guidance application thendetermines whether the user identified by the first stored identifierhas access to the media asset based on the value. For example, the mediaguidance application may compare a blocking criterion retrieved from thefield associated with the first stored identifier with metadataassociated with the media asset (e.g., stored metadata 250) to determinewhether the user identified by the first stored identifier haspermission to access the media asset. As a specific example, if theblocking criterion is the rating “TV-PG” and the media asset has arating of “TV-MA” (e.g., as indicated by stored metadata 250), then themedia guidance application may determine that the user does not havepermission to access the media asset since the rating of the media assetexceeds the blocking criterion rating.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application generates aninstruction to allow access to view the media asset for a predeterminedperiod of time. For example, after the media guidance applicationdetermines the user identified by the first authorization code (e.g.,which may be identifier 202 as described above) has access to the mediaasset, the media guidance application may generate an instruction (e.g.,by executing a program script) to allow access to the media asset for aperiod of time. The media guidance application may then execute theinstruction, wherein the instruction stores a temporary indication, in afield associated with the first stored identifier in the parentalcontrol database (e.g., parental control database 200), to allow accessto view the media asset. For example, the media guidance application mayexecute the program script that was generated, which then stores anindication (e.g., a boolean value set to “true”) in the parental controldatabase (e.g., in additional fields 210 of parental control database200) that the user has access to the media asset. The media guidanceapplication then, in response to executing the instruction, monitors anelapsed time. For example, the program script may store an end time inthe parental control database (e.g., in parental control database 200)when access to the media asset expires and the media guidanceapplication may execute another program script to remove the indicationwhen the time reaches the value in the end time. Alternatively, themedia guidance application may continue running the program script,which monitors the clock time and removes the indication after thepredetermined period of time. The media guidance application, inresponse to determining the elapsed time exceeds the predeterminedperiod of time, deletes the temporary indication to allow access to viewthe media asset. For example, the media guidance application may resetthe contents of the field (e.g., one of additional fields 210 inparental control database 200) where the indication was stored.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, in response toreceiving an indication not granting authorization to execute theoperation associated with the media asset based on the transmittedsecond authorization code not matching the second identifier generatedat the first time, queries the parental control database to determinewhether there is an alternate second authorization code to allow theoperation. For example, the media guidance application may receive adata packet from the authorization package with a boolean value set to“false” if the transmitted authorization code does not correspond to asecond identifier. The media guidance application then accesses theparental control database (e.g., parental control database 200) anddetermines whether any other second-factor authorization sources areassociated with the first stored identifier (e.g., alternate secondauthorization factor 208). For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the user can also be identified via a biometricsignature (e.g., an iris scan or facial recognition) as the secondauthorization code based on data stored in the parental control database(e.g., alternate second authorization factor 208). In response todetermining that there is the second authorization code to allow theoperation, the media guidance application generates for display anindication to input the alternate second authorization code. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate for display aprompt to use a camera (e.g., integrated into a cellular telephone) toinput a biometric signature as the second authorization code.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may prompt for thealternate second authorization code (e.g., from another source) onlyafter a threshold number of failed matches to a second identifier forthe original second authorization code (e.g., second factor 206). Forexample, if the media guidance application receives, from theauthorization database, an indication that three consecutive transmittedsecond authorization codes failed to match the second stored identifier,the media guidance application may determine to prompt for the alternatesecond authorization code (e.g., alternate second authorization factor208).

FIG. 3 is an illustrative display of a user interface for requiringtwo-factor authentication for operations associated with a media asset,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, themedia guidance application may generate for display on display 302permissions menu 304. Display 302 may appear on one or more user devices(e.g., any of the devices listed in FIGS. 7-8 below). Moreover, themedia guidance application may use one or more of the processesdescribed in FIGS. 9-13 to generate display 302 or any of the featuresdescribed therein.

Permissions menu 304 may contain text, indicating an identifier of amedia asset a user is scheduling for storage (e.g., “Game of Thrones”),as well as a prompt containing options to set permissions for operationsthat will require two-factor authentication. For example, the mediaguidance application may generate a plurality of options that whenselected require two-factor authentication to perform the correspondingoperation, such as option to delete 306, option to copy 314, and optionto update viewing progress 316. In some embodiments, selection of anoption requiring two-factor authentication for a specific operation(e.g., option to delete 306 as indicate by indicator 308) may be furthercustomized for specific users (e.g., via selection of specific users312) or may be set for all users (e.g., via selection of all users 310).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application receives a userinput to schedule the media asset for storage. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive a user input via a user input interface(e.g., a remote control) to schedule a media asset for storage. As aspecific example, the user may select a particular media asset listingin a grid-guide generated by the media guidance application, whichresults in the media asset being added to a scheduling database. Themedia guidance application, in response to receiving the user input,generates for display a user interface (e.g., including permissionsmenu. 304) with a plurality of selectable options (e.g., options 306,314, and/or 316) for restricting access to a corresponding plurality ofoperations. For example, the media guidance application may generate auser interface with buttons to require two-factor authentication foroperations that can be performed (e.g., option to delete 306) withrespect to the media asset. The media guidance application receives aselection of a selectable option for restricting access to acorresponding operation. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive a user selection via a user input interface to restrict access(e.g., require two-factor authentication) for a particular operation(e.g., delete). The media guidance application, in response to receivingthe selection, stores in the parental control database (e.g., asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 2), information that the operationrequires the second authorization code. For example, the media guidanceapplication may add an identifier of the media asset to an array apointer in the parental control database points to for the operation, asdescribed above. Alternatively or additionally, the media guidanceapplication may store the indication with metadata of the stored mediaasset, as described above with respect to FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative display of a user interface for blocking anoperation associated with a media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display on display 402 of mobile device 400alert 404. Alert 404 may contain text indicating that a request toperform a particular operation (e.g., delete) was received by the mediaguidance application. Alert 404 may additionally generate for displayselectable options to block 406 and allow 408 the operation. Display 402may appear on one or more user devices (e.g., any of the devices listedin FIGS. 7-8 below). Moreover, the media guidance application may useone or more of the processes described in FIGS. 9-13 to generate display402 or any of the features described therein.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application accesses a userdatabase including identifiers of users who have accessed the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application may maintain adatabase or other appropriate data structure and store an identifier ofa user in a field associated with an identifier of the media asset aftera user accesses the media asset. As a specific example, the useridentifier may be the first authorization code, such as “1111.” In someembodiments, the user database may be associated with the parentalcontrol database discussed above with respect to FIG. 2 (e.g., pointedto or linked via an index data structure). The media guidanceapplication then retrieves, from the field in the user databaseassociated with the identifier, contact information for a deviceassociated with a user who has accessed the media asset. For example,the media guidance application may determine that the user identified byauthorization code “1111” has previously viewed the same media assetthat the user identified by first authorization code “1234” hasindicated they would like to perform an operation on and retrievescontact information (e.g., for mobile device 400) of the user identifiedby authorization code “1111.” As a specific example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve the mobile phone number “123-456-7890” fromfield in the user database corresponding to the user identified byauthorization code “1111.” The media guidance application thentransmits, to the device (e.g., mobile device 400) based on the contactinformation, a notification to the user that the operation associatedwith the media asset has been received. For example, the media guidanceapplication may transmit a message to the mobile phone based on theretrieved phone number. The transmitted message may include details ofthe operation and/or the user that is trying to perform the operation.For example, the media guidance application may transmit the message,“User ‘Steve’ is requesting to delete ‘Game of Thrones, Season 6,episode 5’.”

In addition to transmitting the notification to the user that theoperation associated with the media asset has been received, in someembodiments the media guidance application receives, from the device, anindication to prevent the operation. For example, the media guidanceapplication may receive from the device to which the message wastransmitted an indication to block the operation (e.g., via user inputselecting option to block 406). As a specific example, if thenotification was transmitted to a mobile phone of a user, the messagemay include text instructing the user to reply to the message if theywish to block the operation. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine whether the user has authority to block theoperation based on an indication stored in the user database associatedwith the user and will only include the text instructing the user toreply to the message if they have authority to block the operation. Themedia guidance application then stores the indication in a second fieldof the parental control database associated with the media asset,wherein the indication prevents the operation from being executed. Forexample, the media guidance application may remove the media asset fromthe array of media assets the user has authority to delete (e.g.,pointed to by a field in the parental control database as describedabove with respect to FIG. 2) based on the received indication to blockthe operation. Alternatively or additionally, the media guidanceapplication may add the media asset to an array in the parental controldatabase for media assets where the user has been blocked by anotheruser from performing operations.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 5-6 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 5-6 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 5-6 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 5 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 500arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 500 may include grid 502 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 504, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 506, where each time identifier which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 502 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 508, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 510. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 510 may be provided inprogram information region 512. Region 512 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable),program's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 502 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 514, recorded content listing 516, andInternet content listing 518. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 500 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings514, 516, and 518 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 502 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 502. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 520. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 520.)

Display 500 may also include video region 522, and options region 526.Video region 522 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 522 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 502. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 526 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 526 may be part of display 500 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 526 may concern features related to program listings in grid 502or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 8. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 6. Video mosaic display 600 includes selectable options 602 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 600, television listings option 604 isselected, thus providing listings 606, 608, 610, and 612 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 600 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 608 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 614 and text portion 616.Media portion 614 and/or text portion 616 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 614 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 600 are of different sizes(i.e., listing 606 islarger than listings 608, 610, and 612), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 7 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 700. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 8.User equipment device 700 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 702. I/O path 702 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 704, which includesprocessing circuitry 706 and storage 708. Control circuitry 704 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 702. I/O path 702 may connect control circuitry 704 (andspecifically processing circuitry 706) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 7 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 704 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 706. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 704 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 708). Specifically, control circuitry 704 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 704 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 704 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 704 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 8). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 708 thatis part of control circuitry 704. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 708 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a hoot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 8, may be used to supplementstorage 708 or instead of storage 708.

Control circuitry 704 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 704 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 700. Circuitry 704 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 708 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 700, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 708.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 704 using user inputinterface 710. User input interface 710 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 712 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 700. For example, display 712 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 710may be integrated with or combined with display 712. Display 712 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 712 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 712 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 712.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry704. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 704.Speakers 714 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 700 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 712 may be played throughspeakers 714. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers714.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 700. In such an approach,instructions of the application arc stored locally (e.g., in storage708), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 704 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 708 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 704 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 710. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 710 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 700 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 700. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 704 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 704) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 700. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 700.Equipment device 700 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 710 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 700 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 710.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 700 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 704). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 704 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 704. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 704. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may he, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 700 of FIG. 7 can be implemented in system 800 ofFIG. 8 as user television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804,wireless user communications device 806, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 7 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804, or awireless user communications device 806. For example, user televisionequipment 802 may, like some user computer equipment 804, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 804 may, like some television equipment 802, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 804, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 806.

In system 800, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 8 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment (e.g., user telex equipment 802,user computer equipment 804, wireless user communications device 806)may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example, a secondscreen device may supplement content presented on a first user equipmentdevice. The content presented on the second screen device may be anysuitable content that supplements the content presented on the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 814.Namely, user television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804, andwireless user communications device 806 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 814 via communications paths 808, 810, and 812, respectively.Communications network 814 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 808, 810, and 812 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 812 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 8 it is awireless path and paths 808 and 810 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 8 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 808, 810, and 812, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 814.

System 800 includes content source 816 and media guidance data source818 coupled to communications network 814 via communication paths 820and 822, respectively. Paths 820 and 822 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 808, 810,and 812. Communications with the content source 816 and media guidancedata source 818 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 8 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 816 and media guidance data source 818, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 8 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 816 and media guidance data source 818 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 816 and 818 withuser equipment devices 802, 804, and 806 are shown as throughcommunications network 814, in some embodiments, sources 816 and 818 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 802, 804, and 806 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 808, 810, and 812.

Content source 816 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 816 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 816 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 816 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 818 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 818may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 818 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 818 mayprovide user equipment devices 802, 804, and 806 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 708, and executedby control circuitry 704 of a user equipment device 700. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 704 of user equipment device 700and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 818) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 818), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 818 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices802, 804, and 806 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 800 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 8.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 814.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control time user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 816 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 802 and user computer equipment 804may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 806 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing; devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 814. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 816 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 818. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804, and wirelessuser communications device 806. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 804 or wireless usercommunications device 806 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 804. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 814. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 7.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for authorizing operationsassociated with blocked media assets using two-factor authentication, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, a mediaguidance application implementing process 900 may be executed by controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7). It should be noted that process 900 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices orequipment shown in FIGS. 7-8.

Process 900 begins at 902, where the media guidance application receives(e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a first request to access amedia asset for viewing on user equipment, wherein access to the mediaasset is blocked. For example, the media guidance application may store(e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a plurality of media assetsin storage either local to the user device that generates media assetsfor display (e.g., storage 708) or remotely at a server (e.g., mediaguidance data source 818 accessible via communications network 814). Themedia guidance application may generate a listing of media assets (e.g.,in a user interface on display 712) which the user can select fordisplay. The media guidance application may set (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a flag, based on metadata associated with eachstored media asset, indicating whether each media asset should beblocked for a given user. As a specific example, the media guidanceapplication may set (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the flagbased on metadata associated with the media asset indicating that itfulfills a predefined blocking criterion (e.g., that a particular usercannot watch shows with a rating greater than TV-PG).

Process 900 continues to 904, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a first input of afirst authorization code. The first authorization code may be anycombination of alphanumeric characters that can be matched to a storedstring of alphanumeric characters. The media guidance application mayreceive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the first identifiervia user input using a user input interface (e.g., user input interface710), such as a touchscreen or remote control. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) the user input, “1578,” via a remote control.

Process 900 continues to 906, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) whether thereceived first authorization code matches a stored first identifier(e.g., stored locally in storage 708 or remotely at a server (e.g.,media guidance data source 818 accessible via communications network814)) granting access to view the media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) whether the received input, “1578,” matches a value stored in memoryfor the first identifier. As a specific example, the media guidanceapplication may access a parental control database (e.g., stored locallyin storage 708 or remotely at a server (e.g., media guidance data source818 accessible via communications network 814)), which contains aplurality of identifiers associated with permissions (i.e., whether eachcode can access the media asset). The media guidance application maycompare (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the received firstauthorization code with the stored identifiers to determine a match(e.g., by comparing the characters of the first authorization code withcharacters of each of the stored identifiers). After determining amatch, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) data from a field in the database correspondingto the matched identifier and determines whether the data indicates auser has access to the media asset.

If the media guidance application determines the received firstauthorization code does not match a stored first identifier grantingaccess to view the media asset, process 900 continues to 908, where themedia guidance application continues (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) to prevent access to the media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) that the received first authorization code does not match anyidentifiers stored in the parental control database, or that theparticular user defined by the first authorization code does not havepermission to access the media asset (e.g., via a blocking criterion asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 2).

If the media guidance application determines the received firstauthorization code matches a stored first identifier granting access toview the media asset, process 900 continues to 910, where the mediaguidance application generates (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) the media asset for display. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display the media asset on a display (e.g.,on display 712) connected to the user equipment (e.g., any of userequipment described above in FIGS. 7-8). Alternatively or additionally,the media guidance application may query (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) the parental control database for an indication whetherthe user identified by the first authorization code can view the mediaasset on a device not coupled to the user equipment storing the mediaasset (e.g., streamed to a mobile device, such as a cellular telephone).

Process 900 continues to 912, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a second request toexecute an operation associated with the media asset. The operation maybe any command or instruction that when executed alters or copies thestored audiovisual data for the media asset or any stored metadatarelating to the media asset. For example, the media guidance applicationmay receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) request via auser input interface (e.g., a touch screen) to delete the media asset.As another example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a request via a user input interfaceto copy the media asset to another device. As yet another example, themedia guidance application may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) a request to update a user profile (e.g., with the viewingprogress or an indication that a user dislikes the media asset)associated with the first authorization code.

Process 900 continues to 914, where the media guidance applicationqueries (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a parental controldatabase for information relating to permissible operations associatedwith the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may,in a field of the parental control database for the identifier thatmatches the first authorization code, store (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) a pointer to an array which lists media assets a user isgranted to perform the operation on. The parental control database maycontain multiple fields, each with a pointer to an array indicatingmedia assets where a particular operation can be performed without asecond authorization code (e.g., delete, modify, etc.). Alternatively oradditionally, the media guidance application may store (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) an indication of which operationsrequire a second authorization code (e.g., they are not permissible withonly the first authorization code) with metadata stored with the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application may store (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the runtime, rating, original airdateand other metadata as a header in the stored audiovisual data for themedia asset, and may additionally contain indications of whichoperations require a second authorization code.

Process 900 continues to 916, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) from theinformation whether a second authorization code is required to executethe operation associated with the media asset, wherein the secondauthorization code is generated periodically as a function of time by atoken mechanism remote from the user equipment. For example, based onretrieving the information from the parental control database asdescribed above for the stored media asset, the media guidanceapplication determines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7))whether a second factor is needed in order to execute the function. Thesecond authorization code may be generated by a token mechanism. (e.g.,a standalone token or an application executed on a device, such as acellular telephone) which can then be input (e.g., via a user inputinterface) to the media guidance application. The token may generate theauthorization code based on a mathematical function of clock time,analogous to public-key authentication. In some embodiments, othertwo-factor methods, such as asymmetric (private-public key)authentication may be used for the second authentication code.

If the media guidance application determines a second authorization codeis not required to execute the operation, process 900 continues to 924,where the media guidance application executes (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the operation related to the media asset. Forexample, based on querying the parental control database and determiningthat an identifier of the media asset is stored in an array indicating aparticular user (e.g., identified by the first authorization code) canperform the operation for those media assets, the media guidanceapplication may execute (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) theoperation without further input (e.g., no second-factor is required). Asa specific example, the media guidance application may execute (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) a program script to clear the blocksof memory where a particular media asset is stored (e.g., delete themedia asset), or any of the operations described above with respect toFIGS. 1-4.

If the media guidance application determines a second authorization codeis required to execute the operation, process 900 continues to 918,where the media guidance application receives (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a second input of the second authorization code.For example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)), via a user input interface (e.g., userinput interface 710), the second authorization code, such as “45678.”The media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) that the input was received at 10:23:30(hours:minutes:seconds) on 05:31:16 (month:day:year), based on the clocktime when the input was received. Alternatively or additionally, themedia guidance application may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) a clock time with the inputted second authorization code basedon the clock time of the device where the code was generated.

Process 900 continues to 920, where the media guidance applicationtransmits (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)), to anauthorization database, the second authorization code generated at thefirst time. For example, the media guidance application may transmit(e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the second authorization codeto a database (e.g., stored locally in storage 708 or remotely at aserver (e.g., media guidance data source 818 accessible viacommunications network 814)). In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may preprocess (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7))the second authorization code. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) adata packet containing the second authorization code and the time atwhich it was generated, as described above. In another example, themedia guidance application may concatenate (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) the time to the nearest second or minute beforetransmission, depending on how often new authorization codes aregenerated by the token mechanism.

Process 900 continues to 922, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) an indicationgranting authorization to execute the operation associated with themedia asset based on the transmitted second authorization code matchinga second identifier generated at the first time. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) a data packet from the authorization package with a boolean valueset to “true” if the transmitted authorization code corresponds to asecond identifier or “false” if it does not. The second identifier maybe a second token mechanism with the same mathematical function of timewhich may compare the output at a particular time (e.g., the secondidentifier) with the received second authorization code. The token maybe additionally identified by the first authorization code, which wouldallow the authorization database to more efficiently determine whetherthe received second authorization code is correct. For example, themedia guidance application may transmit (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) that the user identified by first authorization code “1234”entered second authorization code “45678” to the authorization database.Instead of searching every token mechanism stored at the authorizationdatabase, the authorization database need only search for a tokencorresponding to user “1234” and determine whether “45678” was generatedby that token at the particular time.

After receiving the indication, process 900 continues to 924, where themedia guidance application executes (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) the operation related to the media asset, as described above.As a specific example, the media guidance application may execute (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) a program script to clear the blocksof memory where a particular media asset is stored (e.g., delete themedia asset), or any of the operations described above with respect toFIGS. 1-4.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 9 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 9 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 7-8 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 9.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining whether areceived authorization code permits access to a media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, a mediaguidance application implementing process 1000 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7). It should be noted that process 1000 orany step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of thedevices or equipment shown in FIGS. 7-8. Process 1000 starts with 1002,where the media guidance application begins a process for determiningwhether to allow access to a blocked media asset based on a receivedauthorization code. For example, the media guidance application mayexecute (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a program scriptinitializing process 1000.

Process 1000 continues to 1004, where the media guidance applicationaccesses (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a parental controldatabase. For example, the media guidance application may access theparental control database locally in storage 708 or remotely at a servermedia guidance data source 818 accessible via communications network814)). The parental control database may be designed in aself-referencing manner, where information about each user (e.g.,defined by a first authorization code as discussed above with respect toFIGS. 1 and 9), blocking criteria, permissible functions, and whethercertain functions require two-factor authentication may all be containednon-contiguously in a single table and linked via pointers to theappropriate fields in the table.

Process 1000 continues to 1006, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)), based oncomparing characters of the received authorization code with charactersof a plurality of authorization codes stored in entries of the parentalcontrol database, whether the received authorization code matches afirst stored authorization code. For example, the media guidanceapplication may execute (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) aprogram script utilizing a for-loop to iterate through the plurality ofauthorization codes stored in the parental control database. For eachauthorization code, the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a value for the authorization codefrom a field and compare the retrieved authorization code to thereceived authorization code. As a specific example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) thecode “14578” from an entry in the database and compare each character toa received code “12345” by indexing and comparing the characters in thestring of characters. In this particular example, the first indexmatches, since both first indexed characters are “1,” but it fails atthe second index because “4” is not the same character as “2.” For thisexample, the media guidance application would determine (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) that the particular entry containingauthorization code “14578” does not match the received code and wouldproceed to check the next stored authorization code. In someembodiments, once all authorization codes of the plurality ofauthorization codes have been checked, the program script executed bythe media guidance application terminates and the media guidanceapplication determines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7))whether a match was found. In some embodiments, the program scriptexecuted by the media guidance application terminates upon determining amatch,

If the media guidance application does not determine a match at 1006,process 1000 continues to 1014 where the media guidance application doesnot allow access (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) to theblocked media asset. For example, if the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) that no storedauthorization code matches the received authorization code, the mediaguidance application may determine that access should not be granted tothe blocked media asset.

If the media guidance application does determine a match at 1006,process 1000 continues to 1008 where the media guidance applicationretrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a value from afield associated with the first stored authorization code. For example,as described above with respect to FIG. 2, a parental control databasemay contain blocking criteria associated with particular authorizationcodes, such as “TV-PG.” The media guidance application may retrieve(e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a blocking criterion, or anyother value from the entry for the matched authorization code, that canbe used to determine whether access should be granted.

Process 1000 continues to 1010, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control try 704 (FIG. 7)) whether the valuecorresponds to granting access to the blocked media asset. For example,the media guidance application may compare (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) the retrieved value from the parental control databasewith metadata associated with the requested media asset, as describedabove with respect to FIG. 2. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)),from a field of stored metadata associated with the media asset, therating of the media asset. The media guidance application may thencompare (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the rating with ablocking criterion for ratings associated with the matched authorizationcode. For example, the rating stored in the parental control databasemay be “TV-PG” and the metadata associated with the media asset mayindicate that it is “TV-MA.” The media guidance application maydetermine (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) that since “TV-MA”exceeds “TV-PG” (i.e., it is a higher rating), the value does notcorrespond to granting access to the media asset. In some embodiments,ratings may be assigned integer values for easier comparison by themedia guidance application. For example, TV-PG may be assigned “1” andTV-MA may be assigned “5.”

If the media guidance application determines the value does notcorrespond to granting access to the blocked media asset at 1010,process 1000 continues to 1014, where the media guidance applicationdoes not allow access (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) to theblocked media asset, as described above. If the media guidanceapplication determines the value does correspond to granting access tothe blocked media asset at 1010, process 1000 continues to 1016, wherethe media guidance application allows access (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) to the blocked media asset. For example, basedon the rating of the media asset being lower than the blockingcriterion, the media guidance application may permit access to the mediaasset (e.g., allow the media asset to be generated for display).

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 10 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 10 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 7-8 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 10.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining whether arequested operation requires a second authorization code, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, a media guidanceapplication implementing process 1100 may be executed by controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7). It should be noted that process 1100 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices orequipment shown in FIGS. 7-8. Process 1100 starts with 1102, where themedia guidance application begins a process for determining whether asecond authorization code is required to execute an operation associatedwith a stored media asset. For example, the media guidance applicationmay execute (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a program scriptinitializing process 1100.

Process 1100 continues to 1104, where the media guidance applicationretrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) permissionsassociated with the stored media asset. For example, as described abovewith respect to FIG. 2, the media guidance application may store (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) an indication with metadataassociated with a stored media asset whether or not a second factor isrequired to perform particular operations. For example, the mediaguidance application may store a boolean value set to “true” if asecond-factor is required to perform a particular operation. The mediaguidance application may retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) this value from a field of the stored metadata. In some embodiments,the permissions may be stored in a separate database, which may bestored locally in storage 708 or remotely at a server (e.g., mediaguidance data source 818 accessible via communications network 814)),listing all stored media assets and permissions, instead of or inaddition to with metadata associated with the stored media asset (e.g.,in a header of a file containing audiovisual data for the stored mediaasset).

Process 1100 continues to 1106, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)), from theretrieved permissions, whether the operation associated with the storedmedia asset requires authentication with a second factor. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) a boolean value for a particular requested operation(e.g., delete) indicating whether a second authorization factor isrequired to perform the requested operation. In some embodiments, theretrieved permissions may be strings or other data types that can beparsed and analyzed by the media guidance application to determinewhether another authorization factor is required. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) the string, “Joe should not delete media assets without asecond-factor,” which may be stored based on a communication fromanother user. Based on analyzing the string, the media guidanceapplication may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7))that the authorization code corresponding to Joe (e.g., “1234”) requiresanother authorization factor in order to delete media assets.

If the media guidance application determines that the operation does notrequire authentication with a second factor at step 1106, process 1100continues to 1116, where the media guidance application performs (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the operation associated with themedia asset. For example, as is described in detail below with respectto FIG. 12, the media guidance application may execute (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the requested operation (e.g., to deletethe media asset).

If the media guidance application determines that the operation doesrequire authentication with a second factor at step 1106, process 1100continues to 1108, where the media guidance application accesses (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a parental control database. Forexample, as is described in FIG. 10 above, the media guidanceapplication may access (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) theparental control database locally in storage 708 or remotely at a server(e.g., media guidance data source 818 accessible via communicationsnetwork 814)).

Process 1100 continues to 1110, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)), from an entry forthe first authorization code in the parental control database, whether asource of the second authorization code is stored. For example, asdescribed with respect to FIG. 2, the parental control database maycontain a field containing an indication of a source of a second-factor.The source may be a token mechanism, biometric signature, or othersecond-factor that is complimentary to the first-factor (e.g., the firstfactor is a knowledge factor and the second is a possession factor). Themedia guidance application may retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) a string, such as “token” from the parental control databaseand execute a program script to retrieve the appropriate secondauthorization factor based on the retrieved string.

If the media guidance application determines a source of the secondauthorization code is not stored at 1110, process 1100 continues to1114, where the media guidance application does not perform (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the operation associated with the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application may determine (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) that since no indication of thesource of second authorization code is stored in the parental controldatabase, the user is not entitled to perform the operation associatedwith the media asset, since they cannot be authenticated.

If the media guidance application determines a source of the secondauthorization code is stored at 1110, process 1100 continues to 1112,where the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) whether a received authorization code iscorrect. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maytransmit (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) a received secondauthorization code to a remote database (e.g., via communicationsnetwork 814 (FIG. 8)) and receive an indication that the secondauthorization code is correct (e.g., a boolean set to true extractedfrom a data packet received from the remote database). In otherembodiments, the media guidance application may determine (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) whether the received second authorizationcode is correct by comparing the received code to a plurality of codesstored in a database, as outlined above with respect to FIGS. 10 and 11.

If the media guidance application determines the received secondauthorization code is correct at 1112, process 1100 continues to 1116,where the media guidance application performs the operation associatedwith the media asset. For example, as is described in detail below withrespect to FIG. 12, the media guidance application may execute (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the requested operation (e.g., todelete the media asset). If the media guidance application determinesthe received second authorization code is not correct at 1112, process1100 continues to 1114, where the media guidance application does notperform (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the operationassociated with the media asset. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7))that since an incorrect second authorization code was received, theoperation should not be executed.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 11 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 11 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 7-8 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 11.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for performing an operationrelating to a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. For example, a media guidance application implementingprocess 1200 may be executed by control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7). Itshould be noted that process 1200 or any step thereof could be performedon, or provided by, any of the devices or equipment shown in FIGS. 7-8.Process 1200 starts with 1202, where the media guidance applicationbegins a process for executing an operation related to a media asset.For example, the media guidance application may execute (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a program script initializing process1200.

Process 1200 continues to 1204, where the media guidance applicationfetches (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) instructions forexecuting the operation related to the media asset from memory. Forexample, the instructions could be an executable script such as a scriptin an object-oriented programming language (e.g., C++). The mediaguidance application may fetch (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) the script from the database containing the operation related to themedia asset (e.g., any of the operations described above with respect toFIGS. 1-9).

Process 1200 continues to 1206, where the media guidance applicationdecodes (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the instructions. Forexample, if the instructions are in an object-oriented script in alanguage such as C++, control circuitry 1204 may compile (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the code so that the code may beexecuted.

Process 1200 continues to 1208, where the media guidance applicationexecutes (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the instructions.For example, the media guidance application may perform (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) operations based on the decodedinstructions. For instance, the decoded instructions may instruct (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the media guidance application toclear the contents of blocks of memory storing a media asset.

Process 1200 may continue to 1210, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) whether theoperation has been completed. For example, the executed instructions maybe to clear the contents of one specific block of memory, in which caseafter the block of memory has been cleared new instructions may need tobe fetched to clear another block of memory (e.g., in order to clear allblocks of memory storing the media asset when deleting the media asset).If the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) that the operation has not been completed,process 1200 may return to 1204. For example, if the operation requiresmultiple loops through the script, the media guidance application maydetermine the operation has not been completed and returns to step 1204.If the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the operation has been completed, then process1200 continues to 1212 where the media guidance application terminatesthe operation.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 12 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 12 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 7-8 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 12.

FIG. 13 is another flowchart of illustrative steps for authorizingoperations associated with blocked media assets using two-factorauthentication, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.For example, a media guidance application implementing process 1300 maybe executed by control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7). It should be noted thatprocess 1300 or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by,any of the devices or equipment shown in FIGS. 7-8.

Process 1300 begins at 1302, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a first request toaccess a media asset for viewing on user equipment, wherein access tothe media asset is blocked. For example, the media guidance applicationmay store (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a plurality ofmedia assets in storage either local to the user device that generatesmedia assets for display (e.g., storage 708) or remotely at a server(e.g., media guidance data source 818 accessible via communicationsnetwork 814). The media guidance application may generate a listing ofmedia assets (e.g., in a user interface on display 712) which the usercan select for display. The media guidance application may set (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a flag, based on metadata associatedwith each stored media asset, indicating whether each media asset shouldbe blocked for a given user. As a specific example, the media guidanceapplication may set (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the flagbased on metadata associated with the media asset indicating that itfulfills a predefined blocking criterion (e.g., that a particular usercannot watch shows with a rating greater than TV-PG).

Process 1300 continues to 1304, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a first input of afirst authorization code. The first authorization code may be anycombination of alphanumeric characters that can be matched to a storedstring of alphanumeric characters. The media guidance application mayreceive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the first identifiervia user input using a user input interface (e.g., user input interface710), such as a touchscreen or remote control. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) the user input, “1578,” via a remote control.

Process 1300 continues to 1306, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) whether thereceived first authorization code matches a stored first identifier(e.g., stored locally in storage 708 or remotely at a server (e.g.,media guidance data source 818 accessible via communications network814)) granting access to view the media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) whether the received input, “1578,” matches a value stored in memoryfor the first identifier. As a specific example, the media guidanceapplication may access a parental control database (e.g., stored locallyin storage 708 or remotely at a server (e.g., media guidance data source818 accessible via communications network 814)), which contains aplurality of identifiers associated with permissions (i.e., whether eachcode can access the media asset). The media guidance application maycompare (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the received firstauthorization code with the stored identifiers to determine a match(e.g., by comparing the characters of the first authorization code withcharacters of each of the stored identifiers). After determining amatch, the media guidance application retrieves control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) data from a field in the database corresponding to the matchedidentifier and determines whether the data indicates a user has accessto the media asset.

If the media guidance application determines the received firstauthorization code does not match a stored first identifier grantingaccess to view the media asset, process 1300 continues to 1308, wherethe media guidance application continues (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) to prevent access to the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may determine (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) that the received first authorization code does not matchany identifiers stored in the parental control database, or that theparticular user defined by the first authorization code does not havepermission to access the media asset (e.g., via a blocking criterion asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 2).

If the media guidance application determines the received firstauthorization code matches a stored first identifier granting access toview the media asset, process 1300 continues to 1310, where the mediaguidance application generates (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG.7)) the media asset for display. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display the media asset on a display (e.g.,on display 712) connected to the user equipment (e.g., any of userequipment described above in FIGS. 7-8). Alternatively or additionally,the media guidance application may query (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) the parental control database for an indication whetherthe user identified by the first authorization code can view the mediaasset on a device not coupled to the user equipment storing the mediaasset (e.g., streamed to a mobile device, such as a cellular telephone).

Process 1300 continues to 1312, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a second request toexecute an operation associated with the media asset. The operation maybe any command or instruction that when executed alters or copies thestored audiovisual data for the media asset or any stored metadatarelating to the media asset. For example, the media guidance applicationmay receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a request via auser input interface (e.g., a touch screen) to delete the media asset.As another example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a request via a user input interfaceto copy the media asset to another device. As yet another example, themedia guidance application may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) a request to update a user profile (e.g., with the viewingprogress or an indication that a user dislikes the media asset)associated with the first authorization code.

Process 1300 continues to 1314, where the media guidance applicationqueries (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a parental controldatabase for information relating to permissible operations associatedwith the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may,in a field of the parental control database for the identifier thatmatches the first authorization code, store (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) a pointer to an array which lists media assets a user isgranted to perform the operation on. The parental control database maycontain multiple fields, each with a pointer to an array indicatingmedia assets where a particular operation can be performed without asecond authorization code (e.g., delete, modify, etc.). Alternatively oradditionally, the media guidance application may store (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) an indication of which operationsrequire a second authorization code (e.g., they are not permissible withonly the first authorization code) with metadata stored with the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application may store (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the runtime, rating, original airdateand other metadata as a header in the stored audiovisual data for themedia asset, and may additionally contain indications of whichoperations require a second authorization code.

Process 1300 continues to 1316, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) from theinformation whether a second authorization code is required to executethe operation associated with the media asset, wherein the secondauthorization code is a biometric signature. For example, based onretrieving the information from the parental control database asdescribed above for the stored media asset, the media guidanceapplication determines (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7))whether a second factor is needed in order to execute the function. Thebiometric signature may be any feature associated with a user that canbe used to differentiate and thus authenticate the user. In someembodiments, the biometric signature may be an iris scan. For example,the media guidance application may analyze (e.g., via control circuitry704 (FIG. 7)) the unique color patterns on a user's iris and map them tomathematical structures to compare to stored iris scans in a database.In another embodiment, the biometric signature may be a retinal scan.For example, the media guidance application may analyze (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the pattern of blood vessels on a user'sretina to identify a user (e.g., by comparing with patterns stored in adatabase). In yet another embodiment, the biometric signature may be afacial scan. For example, the media guidance application may determine(e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) critical points (e.g.,features such as the corners of the mouth, centers of the eyes etc.) andproximity to other features of a scan of a user's face and compare theseto stored critical points in a database. In still another embodiment,the biometric signature may be a fingerprint scan. For example, themedia guidance application may analyze (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) the patterns of a user's fingerprint and compare with storedpatterns in a database.

If the media guidance application determines a second authorization codeis not required to execute the operation, process 1300 continues to1324, where the media guidance application executes (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the operation related to the media asset. Forexample, based on querying the parental control database and determiningthat an identifier of the media asset is stored in an array indicating aparticular user (e.g., identified by the first authorization code) canperform the operation for those media assets, the media guidanceapplication may execute (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) theoperation without further input (e.g., no second-factor is required). Asa specific example, the media guidance application may execute (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) a program script to clear the blocksof memory where a particular media asset is stored (e.g., delete themedia asset), or any of the operations described above with respect toFIGS. 1-4.

If the media guidance application determines a second authorization codeis required to execute the operation, process 1300 continues to 1318,where the media guidance application receives (e.g., via controlcircuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a second input of the second authorization code.For example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)), via a user input interface (e.g., userinput interface 710), the second authorization code. For example, themedia guidance application may receive, from an integrated camera of auser equipment device (e.g., any of user equipment discussed above withrespect to FIGS. 7-8), an image of the biometric signature (e.g., aniris scan, retinal scan, etc.).

Process 1300 continues to 1320, where the media guidance applicationtransmits (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)), to anauthorization database, the second authorization code. For example, themedia guidance application may transmit (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) the second authorization code (e.g., biometric signature) to adatabase (e.g., stored locally in storage 708 or remotely at a servermedia guidance data source 818 accessible via communications network814)). In some embodiments, the media guidance application maypreprocess (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) the secondauthorization code. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a data packetcontaining the second authorization code and a data file containinganalysis of the biometric signature (e.g., critical points based onpattern recognition of pixels in a received image) which is thentransmitted to the authorization database.

Process 1300 continues to 1322, where the media guidance applicationreceives via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) an indication grantingauthorization to execute the operation associated with the media assetbased on the transmitted second authorization code matching a storedbiometric signature. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive (e.g., via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7)) a data packet fromthe authorization package with a boolean value set to “true” if thetransmitted authorization code corresponds to a second identifier or“false” if it does not. The second identifier may be a stored table orother data structure defining critical points of a particular biometricsignature. For example, the second identifier may be a table containingdistances between various points on a user's face. As another example,the second identifier may be one or a series of mathematical (e.g.,fractal dimensions) representations of a user's iris.

After receiving the indication, process 1300 continues to 1324, wherethe media guidance application executes (e.g., via control circuitry 704(FIG. 7)) the operation related to the media asset, as described above.As a specific example, the media guidance application may execute (e.g.,via control circuitry 704 (FIG. 7) a program script to clear the blocksof memory where a particular media asset is stored (e.g., delete themedia asset), or any of the operations described above with respect toFIGS. 1-4.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 13 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 13 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 7-8 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 13.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Furthermore, itshould be noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done inparallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may beperformed in real time. It should also be noted that the systems and/ormethods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems and/or methods.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for authorizing operations associatedwith blocked media assets using two-factor authentication, the methodcomprising: receiving a first request to access a media asset forviewing on user equipment, wherein access to the media asset is blocked;receiving a first input of a first authorization code; determining thatthe received first authorization code matches a stored first identifiergranting access to view the media asset; based on determining that thereceived first authorization code matches the stored first identifier:generating the media asset for display; receiving a second request toexecute an operation associated with the media asset; based on receivingthe second request: querying a parental control database for informationrelating to permissible operations associated with the media asset;determining from the information that a second authorization code isrequired to execute the operation associated with the media asset,wherein the second authorization code is generated periodically as afunction of time by a token mechanism remote from the user equipment;receiving a second input of the second authorization code generated at afirst time; transmitting, to an authorization database, the secondauthorization code generated at the first time; in response totransmitting, to the authorization database, the second authorizationcode generated at the first time, receiving an indication grantingauthorization to execute the operation associated with the media assetbased on the transmitted second authorization code matching a secondidentifier generated at the first time; and based on receiving theindication that the received second authorization code matches thestored second identifier, executing the operation related to the mediaasset.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the receivedfirst authorization code matches the first stored identifier grantingaccess to view the media asset comprises: retrieving, from a field inthe parental control database including a plurality of entries withstored identifiers associated with users, the first stored identifier;determining whether the first stored identifier matches the receivedauthorization code by comparing characters of the first storedidentifier with characters of the received authorization code; and inresponse to determining that the first stored identifier matches thereceived authorization code: retrieving a value from a field associatedwith the first stored identifier; and determining whether the useridentified by the first stored identifier has access to the media assetbased on the value.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating fordisplay the media asset comprises: generating an instruction to allowaccess to view the media asset for a predetermined period of time;executing the instruction, wherein the instruction stores a temporaryindication, in a field associated with the first stored identifier inthe parental control database, to allow access to view the media asset;in response to executing the instruction, monitoring an elapsed time;and in response to determining the elapsed time exceeds thepredetermined period of time, deleting the temporary indication to allowaccess to view the media asset.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a user input to schedule the media asset forstorage; in response to receiving the user input, generating for displaya user interface with a plurality of selectable options for restrictingaccess to a corresponding plurality of operations; receiving a selectionof a selectable option for restricting access to a correspondingoperation; and in response to receiving the selection, storing, in theparental control database, information that the operation requires thesecond authorization code.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:in response to receiving an indication not granting authorization toexecute the operation associated with the media asset based on thetransmitted second authorization code not matching the second identifiergenerated at the first time, querying the parental control database todetermine whether there is an alternate second authorization code toallow the operation; and in response to determining that there is thealternate second authorization code to allow the operation, generatingfor display an indication to input the alternate second authorizationcode.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: accessing a userdatabase including identifiers of users who have accessed the mediaasset; retrieving, from a field in the user database associated with anidentifier, contact information for a device associated with a user whohas accessed the media asset; and transmitting, to the device based onthe contact information, a notification to the user that the operationassociated with the media asset has been received.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the field is a first field, further comprising:receiving, from the device, an indication to prevent the operation; andstoring the indication in a second field of the parental controldatabase associated with the media asset, wherein the indicationprevents the operation from being executed.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the user equipment is first user equipment, and whereinexecuting the operation related to the media asset comprises: accessingblocks of memory containing data corresponding to the media asset; andcopying the data contained in the blocks of memory corresponding to themedia asset to second user equipment.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: in response to copying the data, storing, in a fieldassociated with the media asset in the parental control database, anindication that the media asset has been copied to the second userequipment; receiving a third request to access the media asset on thefirst user equipment; and preventing access to the media asset on thefirst user equipment while the media asset is copied on the second userequipment.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the operationrelated to the media asset comprises: accessing a viewing progress datastructure containing currently stored media assets; and storing, in afield for the media asset, an indication that the media asset has beenviewed to completion.
 11. A system for authorizing operations associatedwith blocked media assets using two-factor authentication, the systemcomprising: control circuitry configured to: receive a first request toaccess a media asset for viewing on user equipment, wherein access tothe media asset is blocked; receive a first input of a firstauthorization code; determine that the received first authorization codematches a stored first identifier granting access to view the mediaasset; based on determining that the received first authorization codematches the stored first identifier: generate the media asset fordisplay; receive a second request to execute an operation associatedwith the media asset; based on receiving the second request: query aparental control database for information relating to permissibleoperations associated with the media asset; determine from theinformation that a second authorization code is required to execute theoperation associated with the media asset, wherein the secondauthorization code is generated periodically as a function of time by atoken mechanism remote from the user equipment; receive a second inputof the second authorization code generated at a first time; transmit, toan authorization database, the second authorization code generated atthe first time; in response to transmitting, to the authorizationdatabase, the second authorization code generated at the first time,receive an indication granting authorization to execute the operationassociated with the media asset based on the transmitted secondauthorization code matching a second identifier generated at the firsttime; and based on receiving the indication that the received secondauthorization code matches the stored second identifier, execute theoperation related to the media asset.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when determiningthat the received first authorization code matches the first storedidentifier granting access to view the media asset, to: retrieve, from afield in the parental control database including a plurality of entrieswith stored identifiers associated with users, the first storedidentifier; determine whether the first stored identifier matches thereceived authorization code by comparing characters of the first storedidentifier with characters of the received authorization code; and inresponse to determining that the first stored identifier matches thereceived authorization code: retrieve a value from a field associatedwith the first stored identifier; and determine whether the useridentified by the first stored identifier has access to the media assetbased on the value.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured, when generating for display the mediaasset, to: generate an instruction to allow access to view the mediaasset for a predetermined period of time; execute the instruction,wherein the instruction stores a temporary indication, in a fieldassociated with the first stored identifier in the parental controldatabase, to allow access to view the media asset; in response toexecuting the instruction, monitor an elapsed time; and in response todetermining the elapsed time exceeds the predetermined period of time,delete the temporary indication to allow access to view the media asset.14. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: receive a user input to schedule the media asset forstorage; in response to receiving the user input, generate for display auser interface with a plurality of selectable options for restrictingaccess to a corresponding plurality of operations; receive a selectionof a selectable option for restricting access to a correspondingoperation; and in response to receiving the selection, store, in theparental control database, information that the operation requires thesecond authorization code.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to: in response to receiving anindication not granting authorization to execute the operationassociated with the media asset based on the transmitted secondauthorization code not matching the second identifier generated at thefirst time, query the parental control database to determine whetherthere is an alternate second authorization code to allow the operation;and in response to determining that there is the alternate secondauthorization code to allow the operation, generate for display anindication to input the alternate second authorization code.
 16. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configuredto: access a user database including identifiers of users who haveaccessed the media asset; retrieve, from a field in the user databaseassociated with an identifier, contact information for a deviceassociated with a user who has accessed the media asset; and transmit,to the device based on the contact information, a notification to theuser that the operation associated with the media asset has beenreceived.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the field is a firstfield, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:receive, from the device, an indication to prevent the operation; andstore the indication in a second field of the parental control databaseassociated with the media asset, wherein the indication prevents theoperation from being executed.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein theuser equipment is first user equipment, and wherein the controlcircuitry is configured, when executing the operation related to themedia asset, to: access blocks of memory containing data correspondingto the media asset; and copy the data contained in the blocks of memorycorresponding to the media asset to second user equipment.
 19. Thesystem of claim 18, wherein the control circuitry is further configuredto: in response to copying the data, store, in a field associated withthe media asset in the parental control database, an indication that themedia asset has been copied to the second user equipment; receive athird request to access the media asset on the first user equipment; andprevent access to the media asset on the first user equipment while themedia asset is copied on the second user equipment.
 20. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured, whenexecuting the operation related to the media asset, to: access a viewingprogress data structure containing currently stored media assets; andstore, in a field for the media asset, an indication that the mediaasset has been viewed to completion.